1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a portable misting fan. More particularly, the invention relates to a compact hand-held portable misting fan which may be operated with one hand.
2. State of the Art
Portable misting fans are known in the art. They have a variety of uses, but are most commonly used as a personal relief from hot weather conditions. The known misting fans generally include a battery operated fan, a separate detachable water reservoir, and a fluid pump which dispenses a water spray which is dispersed by the fan. When the fan is directed at the face of a user and the water spray is dispensed, a cooling wet breeze is felt on the face of the user. Most people find this to be refreshing in hot weather conditions. While all of the known misting fans are substantially the same in principle, each has its own features and disadvantages.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,115 to Licudine discloses a portable atomizer for liquids which includes open propeller-like fan blades mounted on the end of an L-shaped housing. The housing contains batteries, a motor, a liquid reservoir, and a motor driven fluid pump. The motor is connected by a shaft and gears to both the fan blades and to the fluid pump and is activated by a switch on the side of the housing. The outlet of the fluid pump is located behind the fan blades. The portable atomizer has several disadvantages. First, the open fan blades can be dangerous and prone to failure. The blades can strike a person's face or fingers, catch on an article of clothing or jewelry, etc. Second, it is impossible to regulate the amount of mist dispensed. As soon as the fan is turned on, the mist is dispensed at a preset rate. When used as a personal relief from hot weather, it is desirable that the user have control over how much mist is dispensed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,106 to Steiner discloses a portable misting fan which also has an L-shaped housing. Steiner encases the fan blades in the housing which overcomes one of the disadvantages mentioned above. In lieu of a motor driven fluid pump, Steiner provides a vacuum bulb which is coupled to the fluid reservoir by a flexible tube. This allows the user to regulate the amount of mist dispensed. Nevertheless, Steiner's fan has different disadvantages. First, it is not really designed for hand held operation. It has a relatively long flexible neck and a mounting clip on its base. It is designed to be mounted on a support structure such as a lawn chair or the like. Moreover, if the fan were held in the user's hand, it could not be operated with one hand. The dangling tube with the vacuum bulb must be held by the user in the other hand. Regulation of the fan and the mist is a two-handed operation. In addition, Steiner's fan has a serious design flaw which may prevent it from operating at all. The fan blades are mounted inside the housing and a baffle vent is mounted in front of the blades, but there is no vent in back of the blades. Therefore, there is no way air can get in back of the blades to be driven forward by the rotating blades.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,495 to Steiner et al. discloses a hand held portable misting fan which is designed like the trigger sprayer of a household cleanser. The relatively large bottle-like water reservoir is detachable from the apparatus in the same manner as a bottle of cleanser is detached from a trigger sprayer. Water spray is dispensed by squeezing a trigger which squirts water at the back of open rotating fan blades. While this misting fan has the advantages of being hand held and operable with one hand, it has several disadvantages. As discussed above, the open fan blades are hazardous and prone to failure. To overcome the substantial hazard of the open blades, Steiner et al. propose the use of flexible foam blades. These light weight flexible blades tend to be ineffective, however, and little breeze is generated by a fan with these types of blades. The location of the water outlet behind the fan blades requires that the fan be turned on in order to dispense mist. Moreover, the trigger-style sprayer tends to dispense an inappropriately large amount of water. This, combined with the inefficiency of the fan blades, results in the production of a wet stream of water and little or no breeze. In addition, the overall shape of the apparatus is inconvenient for travel. It will not fit easily in a pocket, purse, or bag, for example.